Different approaches, same ending for Cubs, Angels

The Cubs and the Los Angeles Angels have a few things in common this year.

Both went 8-15 in April, and neither of their veteran sluggers, Alfonso Soriano or Albert Pujols, homered in April.

And though both Soriano and Pujols recovered, neither team is going to the playoffs either.

“Bottom line is we’re going home like a lot of other teams with a lot better records,” manager Dale Sveum said. “If you’re not going to the playoffs, a lot of times the wins, losses doesn’t matter.”

The Angels have the fourth-largest payroll in the majors, gave Pujols and C.J. Wilson a combined $317.5 million, and acquired Zack Greinke before the trade deadline.

“We set ourselves back early in the year and never quite got back to the position we wanted to be,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia told reporters. “We paid a price for it. You can’t cut out parts of the season and say we did this or we did that. The test of the season is 162 games. For 120 games-plus, we played great baseball.”

The Cubs, on the other hand, had only one good stretch- going 18-10 in late June and early July, when Anthony Rizzo came up. But they went 8-21 in August and 9-20 in September after their sell-off.

Despite the poor season, Rizzo believes the Cubs are ready to start going in another direction.

“Yeah I think so, and I know the guys in the front office, Theo (Epstein), Jed (Hoyer) Jason (McLeod) Mr. Ricketts, Dale, they’re all dedicated to winning,” Rizzo said. “They’ll lose sleep over this losing stuff. They all want to win and we want to win.”

Rizzo, like Matt Garza, said Sveum has made the season tolerable.

“Dale is the best manager I’ve played for, easy,” Rizzo said. “He comes to the park everyday with the same attitude. Treats everybody the same and he’s easy to talk to, and that’s the best thing for players. He’s going to be honest with you- play hard for him and he’s got your back all the time, and that’s the greatest thing about it.”